One thing I will say is I understand why there are abridged versions of books. I've always wondered what they cut out of the full version but I can see now that whole chunks of this book could be thrown away without really taking away from the story line. Not that these pieces aren't interesting but sometimes they seem like a spin off.
For example there is a whole book devoted to the teachings of Father Zossima, who is obviously an integral part of the mentality of Alyosha (the main protagonist). However, by the end of the story you forget who this person was and Alyosha does not even seem like someone influenced by this monk. I think this was mainly an opportunity to get some of Dostoyevsky's thoughts out to the public.
As I said this wasn't necessarily uninteresting, in fact I was surprised by the orthodoxy (in the literal sense) of these theses, while surrounded with the Eastern Orthodox beliefs and superstitions (that were obvious in other characters). It would be interesting to read up on Dostoyevsky (maybe a Cliff note book).
The story only really got going in the last few books with the murder of Fyodor Karamazov but there are no cliff hangers even in this as the narrator tells you of the murder the suspects and the verdict before each one is even close to happening. The interest comes in how each is resolved.
Apart from abridgment this book did make me thankful for a few things.
Good parenting - Fyodor the father (interestingly the same name as Dostoyevsky) was the worst. He abandoned all his children so that he could hedonize. The servants that did take care of them didn't do the greatest job and the result was four very different boys. Only one of these seems emotionally secure presumably because of his lengthy contact with monasticism.
Forensic science - the trial at the end would not have existed if it was set 100 years later. Maybe this is why our books are so much shorter.
Audiobooks - This would be one of those books where, as you read you drift off and realized 5 minutes later that you haven't read a single word. Thankfully, when I drifted off on this one the narrator kept going and I didn't really miss much.
The Library - This was a Librivox recording from the public domain, which I was reminded of every chapter by a multitude of different speakers. Some of these had thick accents that I could just about understand. Not only did the characters in this book have many names each but each one was pronounced differently by the speakers. You get what you pay for.
So many more things could be said about this book but I've come to appreciate less words so I'll stop.
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